Your Official Guide to Marketing in the Fall

The leaves are changing, the weather is getting cooler — but not too cold, yet! — and everyone is getting into the spirit of fall.

Fall is the perfect time for festivals, delicious foods, and high spirits — all elements that add up to some fantastic marketing opportunities.

Get into the spirit of fall, and you might just collect more than candy this season!

Host or Sponsor Fall-Themed Events

Whether you partner with a local farm or host an event at a local fire hall or park, fall is the perfect time to organize events and get your name out in the community.

Here are some ideas:

Pumpkin Festivals

Kids can paint pumpkins, stuff scarecrows and have their faces painted. Rent a moon bounce, consider offering hay rides, and hire a DJ to play Halloween music. You can hand out baked goods and apple cider from local bakeries and orchards.

Costume Contests or Parades

You can give out prizes, plus include everything you would at a pumpkin festival: moon bounces, hay rides, lots of delicious fall treats, etc.

Trunk or Treat

This is a relatively new concept. Basically, everyone shows up in costume and trick or treats from car to car, handing out candy and other prizes. This is perfect if you’re on a budget — attendees bring their own candy to hand out to everyone else. You just provide the venue, plus any extras, like games and music.

Beer Tastings

This one is just for adults. Contact local breweries and food vendors, and offer parents a night away from the kids. You could include a costume contest and hire a local band to liven the atmosphere.

At all of these events, it’s important that people know you were the one behind all of the fun. In the name of the event, be sure to include “Hosted by Agent.” Include this branding in any flyers you hand out and in any social media events you create.

How to get the word out:

Create a social media event page

Make sure the event is public, and tell your followers and friends to share, share, share! Social media is the easiest (and cheapest) way to quickly reach a lot of people. Share information about your event on community Facebook pages and offer incentives, like an entrance into a drawing, for anyone who shares your post.

Hand out flyers

You can hang up flyers in local grocery stores, put them in people’s mailboxes or hanging on their front doors. Consider handing out flyers to kids’ events with treat bags, stickers or other little prizes.

If you don’t have the time — or the funds — to host your own event, consider partnering with other people in your brokerage, or offering to sponsor events already happening in your community.

Spice Up Your Open Houses

If you want to get people in the door of your open houses this time of year, make them fun! You could give out special prizes to people who show up in costume, have activities for kids like face painting, games, and balloon animals, and hand out seasonal treats!

Your clients will appreciate that you’ve put so much effort into getting buyers through their doors (you’ll be getting some great testimonials!), and people coming in the door will be impressed by how much you do for your clients. Keep your books on the counter, next to a plate of pumpkin cookies with a sign that says “Take One of Each!”

People who want the cookies will feel obligated to take a copy of your book, and they aren’t likely to throw it away. Books hold inherent value, and even if people don’t read it right away, chances are, they’ll pick it up a few weeks or months later if it’s sitting around the house.

Just like any community events you hold, you need to make sure you get the word out about your open houses. Instead of just posting traditional signs, consider putting them out with black and orange balloons. Create social media event pages and get people to share them!

Get Into the Spirit Online

Fall is the perfect time to interact with your followers in a fun, festive way, either through your blog or through your social media channels.

Blog

Fall Maintenance

While we all have memories of jumping into big piles of leaves as kids, now, leaves can be a big nuisance. Not only do homeowners have to rake them (probably multiple times if they have a lot of trees), but they also need to clean them out of their gutters this time of year.

Fall is also a great time to have heating and air conditioning systems checked and filters changed. Post helpful blogs about fall maintenance for your followers. Here are some potential topics to tackle:

Best products for easy leaf removal

Easy gutter cleaning/best gutter shields to install for next year

Ways to save on heating costs this winter

Best flowers/produce to plant in the fall

Why fall is the best time of year to paint your house/do other exterior repairs/touchups

If you have a good relationship with local landscapers/maintenance workers/other contractors, you could see if they’d offer an incentive to your clients for mentioning your name when they call for services.

Stray from real estate

If you work in real estate, chances are, the majority of your blog topics will cover real estate. But especially this time of year (and around the holidays), it’s OK to post some “just for fun” blog topics. Here are a few ideas:

Creative costume ideas (for adults and kids)

Helpful advice about trick-or-treating

10 most popular Halloween treats

Recipes for pumpkin or apple desserts

Cool pumpkin-carving templates (or just photos of some of the best designs online)

The perfect playlist for Halloween parties

These blogs will pull readers in, and while they’re on your page, they might just browse some of your posts about real estate and subscribe to your blog. More subscriptions = more potential leads.

Social Media

Hold contests on Facebook

People love to win things. It’s as simple as that. And Halloween is the perfect time to hold contests on your Facebook page. Ask people to share their:

Worst Halloween costume photos

Best pumpkin designs

Best scarecrows

Kids’ Halloween drawings

Scariest/best Halloween makeup

Best Halloween decorations

For all of these contests, you can pick the best ones, then post and let people vote on their favorites. Whoever gets the most likes wins a prize.

You could also post Halloween trivia questions. If you post a link to a quiz, make sure to require a name/contact information so you can reach out to any participants in the future. Draw a winner from all of the top scorers — and consider making the quizzes timed so people can’t cheat!

As far as prizes, you could give out anything from gift cards to local restaurants to treats from a local bakery or tickets to Halloween events. You can also offer free copies of your book to anyone who participates.

Hand Out Your Books — With a Side of Candy

While we’re not suggesting you sit out in your driveway and hand out books during trick-or-treat — seriously, no one wants to be that person, let alone work with him/her — it’s not a bad idea to go door to door the week before Halloween and offer your book as part of a goodie package.

For adults, this can include a bottle of seasonal wine — maybe an apple variety? — or some homemade pumpkin treats. Just be sure to check the real estate laws of your state to make sure you aren’t violating any rules about handing out items of value.

For kids, you can offer candy — though you should avoid items with nuts, in case the children have allergies — coloring books, stickers, small toys or craft supplies. A cool idea is to include instructions for a craft, along with the pieces to make it.

If you don’t have a lot of books to hand out, stick to the hot leads — FSBOs, expireds, old expireds, vacant homes, etc.

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Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!